Salem-Keizer Public Schools' 2018-19 strategic plan outlines educational goals and what progress has been made. But the eight-point plan also reveals where the district is falling behind.

Despite stated objectives, officials cut funding for professional development and certain behavior programs, decreased the number of classroom adult assistants and came up short trying to diversify staff to reflect the student population.

But the district is making progress in other areas, including implementing new elementary math and literacy curriculum, adding career technical education courses and expanding internal and external communications.

The goal of the annual strategic plan is to excel in all areas and it's split into two sections — improving student achievement and supporting student achievement.

Results from these efforts willbe seen in measurable outcomes, such as graduation and dropout rates, and closing the achievement gap between traditionally under-served students and their peers. But it also will be noticed in less tangible ways, such as how safe students feel.

"Our strategic plan is at the center of all that we do," Superintendent Christy Perry said in a prepared statement.

This school year, the district plans to enhance special education programs, streamline its hiring processes, address short- and long-range building needs and look for ways to improve family involvement, among other things.

Here's a breakdown of the district's goals:

Focusing on curriculum

Points one and two on this year's strategic plan focus on new, better-aligned curricula across all grades.

#1: Implement K-5 core instruction in literacy and math emphasizing foundational skills, English language development and targeted biliteracy in Spanish using high-leverage strategies for instruction and student engagement.

To support this initiative, district officials approved $3.55 million in the 2018-19 budget for the latest elementary school math curriculum, known as Ready Math.

The English language and equity components were important since 19 percent of Salem-Keizer's nearly 42,000 students are English Language Learners.

The district currently has 20 "Lit-squared" schools and three dual-language schools out of its 42 elementary schools.

"Students come with a native language and a set of experiences that enrich our classrooms and our schools," Lillian Govus, a spokeswoman for the district, told the Statesman Journal.

"We use those foundational skills to start helping them make connections between Spanish and English."

Govus said the district goal is to have bi-literate students at as many schools as possible. One of the largest challenges, however, is finding enough bilingual teachers to have a program at each school.

She said the district's “grow our own” teaching program — which helps Salem-Keizer grads earn their degrees and teaching licenses if they will return to teach in the district — and its partnerships with local universities help with recruitment and collaboration in teacher prep programs.

But these efforts will take years to develop.

#2: Prepare all students to be career and college ready by implementing a rigorous, aligned 6-12 curriculum that includes the use of educational systems such as Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) and Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs.

The graduation rates for students in AVID, career tech courses and Equal Opportunity Schools is much higher compared to those not in the programs.

Nearly 100 percent of AVID students graduate. Students who complete a year of career technical education coursework graduate at 87 percent. And students at Salem-Keizer's Career and Technical Education Center, known as CTEC, specifically boast a graduation rate of 98 percent.

This compares to the district's overall, four-year graduation rate of 71.7 percent and the statewide rate of 74 percent.

More than 7,200 students were enrolled in a career and technical education course last year, officials said. That number is expected to increase this year since two new programs will be available at CTEC this fall — law enforcement and business development and leadership.

Equal Opportunity Schools is a national program that identifies low-income students and students of color and helps increase their access to and success in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes.

According to organization leaders, more than three-quarters of a million students in U.S. high schools are qualified for but are missing from these advanced classes.

And once they are identified and recruited, officials report increased engagement, better performance and the closure of high school and college achievement gaps.

All six of Salem-Keizer's traditional high schools are part of the program and have seen an increase in the number of students taking these courses. They plan to expand it further this year.

Student behavior, attendance

Part of the strategic plan focuses on addressing behavior and learning needs, as well as chronic absenteeism.

#3: Develop a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), which includes both Response to Intervention (RTI) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), and develop proficiency using a new early warning data system for dropout prevention and improving attendance.

• Expand the use of RTI systems using assessments to inform Data Teams in implementing academic interventions.

• Continue the phased implementation of PBIS to include strategies for Tier 2 and Tier 3 within a framework for social emotional learning.

While the idea of developing these programs sounds promising, there have been some contradicting actions in the last year.

When officials passed the 2018-19 district budget in June, for example, it reduced its investment in Response to Intervention programs by $157,000.

That said, the district did add 6.5 full-time equivalent positions for the Office of Behavioral Learning, .52 positions for increased counseling staff and $47,000 for adjusted compensation for the most highly trained staff working with students with behavioral challenges in the most restrictive placements.

Additionally, 14 of the district's elementary schools are operating at the top level for their Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports programs.

The district is aiming for all 65 district schools to reach this level, with elementary schools operating at that level by the end of 2018-19. Govus said all middle schools should be at that level by the end of 2019-20 and high schools will follow.

Over time, this program is supposed to reduce the number of disciplinary incidents in each school, increases attendance, increase academic performance and more.

District officials said the program can fail if there is a lack of continuous administrative support and involvement if teams do not work together, if it is implemented too quickly or too much is taken on at once, among other reasons.

As for improving attendance, the district recently launched its "Every Day 24J" campaign — named after the district's state ID.

Chronic absenteeism — defined as a student who misses 10 percent or more school days — is a district-, state- and nationwide issue, though Oregon has one of the worst rates. Studies show the direct connection between attendance and graduation rates.

Currently, one in three students in Salem-Keizer is considered chronically absent.

If a student misses two days of school a month, he or she will have lost out on an entire month of instruction by the end of the school year, district officials said. By the end of middle school, that equates to an entire year of instruction missed.

"Students who regularly attend school are 172 percent more likely to graduate," Superintendent Perry said.

Chronic absenteeism can be influenced by a number of factors, she said, from cultural norms and socioeconomic statuses to students who are performing well not seeing the connection between attendance and employability after graduation.

"It’s on all of us to get our children in school each day so they can be college and career ready upon graduating," Perry said.

Special education action plans

Point four of the plan seems, in some ways, to go against staffing decisions made this past spring.

#4: Implement action plans designed by special education work groups in the areas of behavior, teaching and learning, family engagement, and district resource and program alignment.

When the board adopted the $1.1 billion budget for the 2018-19 school year, it approved an increase of $2 million for 75 full-time equivalent adult assistant positions.

But those positions don't fully cover the more than 250 people who had temporary single-year assisting positions this past school year.

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Superintendent Christy Perry talks with supporters during an election-night party to watch voter returns come in for the Salem-Keizer Public Schools bond measure at Amadeus in downtown Salem on Tuesday, May 15, 2018.(Photo: ANNA REED / Statesman Journal)

This change ultimately affected hundreds of staff members across Salem-Keizer and countless students — including those who receive these services and their peers.

Adult assistants work directly with students with disabilities and behavioral problems to keep them, their peers and the school staff safe and focused on lessons. About 16 percent of Salem-Keizer students receive some form of special education services.

District officials said they had to hire an unprecedentedly high number of temporary assistants last year to address the student need. But the district isn't able to sustain that level of temporary hires within next year's budget constraints.

"Adult assistance will always be an important part of providing services to students receiving special education services," Govus told the Statesman Journal. "We are focused on making sure that adult assistance is strategically resourced and planned and ensures the greatest level of independence and success for our students."

After an external evaluator analyzed the district's programs, it was recommended officials reevaluate how instructional assistants are assigned, scheduled, trained and provided oversight.

Govus argues this is reflected in the 2018-19 strategic plan.

"Efforts for allocating, scheduling and assigning adult assistance most effectively are underway," she said. "Student Services, K-12 and the Office of Behavioral Learning work closely with school administrators to effectively plan the deployment of instructional assistants."

Staff training, diversity

Professional development, mentorship opportunities and a diverse workforce are key goals in the district's strategic plan.

But currently, they aren't meeting the goals they've outlined.

#5: Provide standards-based, data-driven professional learning for all employees to include culturally responsive practices and job-embedded instructional mentoring for teachers.

While the district offers some professional learning opportunities, it recently made cuts from this category to offset other expenses.

In the 2018-19 school year budget, district officials cut $50,000 in professional development from the budget, which Govus described as a "very small percentage" of the total allocation.

However, she said she couldn't provide a total dollar amount for professional development.

"We have a variety of different professional development budgets for different labor groups, curriculum, etc., and they aren’t all easily grouped," Govus said.

The district's new teacher mentor program, which they've had since 2008, provides support to all teachers in their first two years of their career.

The district is the recipient of the Oregon Mentor Grant and also provides mentoring support to new teachers in small districts in the area, Govus said.

Officials also direct general fund money and federal funds identified for professional development to provide additional mentor positions, she said.

#6: Analyze recruitment, hiring and induction strategies through enhanced HR metrics in order to increase organizational efficiency and diversity in our workforce.

Salem-Keizer's staff diversity has been an issue for years, with students and families not feeling adequately represented.

Though 37 percent of high schoolers in Salem-Keizer identify as Hispanic/Latino, only 6 percent of the staff do. On the other hand, 50 percent of high school students identify as white, while 90 percent of the staff do.

According to the U.S. News & World Report, "minority teachers are often more motivated to work with minority students or in high-poverty and racially segregated schools."

These teachers also tend to have higher academic expectations for minority students, who benefit from having teachers from their own racial group who have better knowledge of their culture and can serve as successful role models, according to the Report.

"We can't teach and lead what we don't know," Cynthia Richardson with the district's diversity department said at a meeting with the NAACP last year. "Students who have staff members who look like them feel more included (and) welcomed (when) they have someone who understands their experiences."

Building repairs, renovations

One point of the strategic plan focuses on providing adequate and safe spaces for students to learn.

#7: Continue to implement community engagement strategies in support of short- and long-range facilities plans to address student enrollment and program needs.

In May, voters approved a $619.7 million bond measure to pay for building repairs and renovations across Salem-Keizer.

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McKinley Elementary School was under construction last summer to bring the school up to seismic safety standards. Photographed in Salem on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017.(Photo: ANNA REED / Statesman Journal)

The projects are supposed to address overcrowding, safety and seismic demands, among other things. The money comes from taxpayers via an additional $1.24 per $1,000 assessed value cost to homeowners.

Over the next few years, bond projects will begin on a rolling basis. While all schools will be affected in some way, projects for schools with the highest needs — highest enrollment and facility issues — will start first.

Govus said the work this year will involve beginning construction, bond oversight, boundary adjustments and future planning.